Solar flare could paralyse Britain

Defence Secretary Liam Fox is to voice fears by scientists that Britain's
electrical infrastructure and orbiting satellites could be crippled by a
solar flare.

The Defence Secretary will next week attend a summit of scientists and security advisers who believe the infrastructure that underpins modern life in Western economies is potentially vulnerable to electromagnetic disruption.

Such disruptions, which can shut down electrical equipment and cripple orbiting satellites, can be triggered by man-made nuclear blasts or natural events on the surface of the sun.